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Sam Lovick

Governments face catch-22 between suppression and elimination

Suppression is the best way to protect the economy. But fearful governments find themselves choosing an elimination strategy anyway.

Sam LovickContributor

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What a painful lesson. On June 6, Victoria had no new cases. Breathe a sigh of relief. Three weeks later, there were 42 new cases, most of which could not be linked to known outbreaks. "Lockdown Two" for the hotspots quickly followed.

The spots, unfortunately, were swarms and "Lockdown Three" came just one week later. Daniel Andrews transformed from "political god" to interstate "whipping boy" and the cost, according to the federal Treasurer, was $5 billion.

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Sam Lovick is an independent economist and a former chief economist at CSL.

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    Original URL: https://www.afr.com/policy/health-and-education/governments-face-catch-22-between-suppression-and-elimination-20200715-p55c50